Capital of the World

by David Wallace

2012 · Simon and Schuster

In the same absorbing style that characterized his bestseller Lost Hollywood, David Wallace presents a the Prohibition-era personalities and events that made New York City the cultural and financial capital of the world. Sex, sin, song, work, sports, play—all these aspects of New York and more are told through a rich array of anecdotes and “inside” profiles of the individuals that personified them in a defining decade. As no book has to date, Capital of the World brings alive New York during a period that saw speakeasies, the rise of the Mafia, women achieving the right to vote, the birth of radio and mass communication, and the beginnings of gossip as a business. This was also an era abuzz with the arts, film, fashion, jazz, baseball, and boxing. Among the many personality driven themes so richly addressed in Capital of the World: * Sherman Billingsely’s Stork Club and Prohibition * Martha Graham and modern dance * Babe Ruth and sports * David Sarnoff and radio * Alexander Woollcott, Dorothy Parker, and the rest of The Round Table * Lucky Luciano and organized crime * Mayor Jimmy “Gentleman Jim” Walker and politics * Madam Polly Adler and the brothels * Walter Winchell and the birth of gossip journalism * The Cotton Club and the Harlem Renaissance * And much more...